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1 .\" $Id: man.7,v 1.47 2009/11/05 08:40:16 kristaps Exp $
2 .\"
3 .\" Copyright (c) 2009 Kristaps Dzonsons <kristaps@kth.se>
4 .\"
5 .\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any
6 .\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
7 .\" copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.
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9 .\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES
10 .\" WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
11 .\" MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR
12 .\" ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES
13 .\" WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN
14 .\" ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF
15 .\" OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
16 .\"
17 .Dd $Mdocdate: November 5 2009 $
18 .Dt MAN 7
19 .Os
20 .
21 .
22 .Sh NAME
23 .Nm man
24 .Nd man language reference
25 .
26 .
27 .Sh DESCRIPTION
28 The
29 .Nm man
30 language was historically used to format
31 .Ux
32 manuals. This reference document describes its syntax, structure, and
33 usage.
34 .
35 .Pp
36 .Bf -emphasis
37 Do not use
38 .Nm
39 to write your manuals.
40 .Ef
41 Use the
42 .Xr mdoc 7
43 language, instead.
44 .
45 .Pp
46 An
47 .Nm
48 document follows simple rules: lines beginning with the control
49 character
50 .Sq \&.
51 are parsed for macros. Other lines are interpreted within the scope of
52 prior macros:
53 .Bd -literal -offset indent
54 \&.SH Macro lines change control state.
55 Other lines are interpreted within the current state.
56 .Ed
57 .
58 .
59 .Sh INPUT ENCODING
60 .Nm
61 documents may contain only graphable 7-bit ASCII characters, the
62 space character, and the tabs character. All manuals must have
63 .Ux
64 line termination.
65 .
66 .Pp
67 Blank lines are acceptable; where found, the output will assert a
68 vertical space.
69 .
70 .Pp
71 The
72 .Sq \ec
73 escape is common in historical
74 .Nm
75 documents; if encountered at the end of a word, it ensures that the
76 subsequent word isn't off-set by whitespace.
77 .
78 .
79 .Ss Comments
80 Text following a
81 .Sq \e\*" ,
82 whether in a macro or free-form text line, is ignored to the end of
83 line. A macro line with only a control character and comment escape,
84 .Sq \&.\e" ,
85 is also ignored. Macro lines with only a control character and
86 optionally whitespace are stripped from input.
87 .
88 .
89 .Ss Special Characters
90 Special characters may occur in both macro and free-form lines.
91 Sequences begin with the escape character
92 .Sq \e
93 followed by either an open-parenthesis
94 .Sq \&(
95 for two-character sequences; an open-bracket
96 .Sq \&[
97 for n-character sequences (terminated at a close-bracket
98 .Sq \&] ) ;
99 or a single one-character sequence. See
100 .Xr mandoc_char 7
101 for a complete list. Examples include
102 .Sq \e(em
103 .Pq em-dash
104 and
105 .Sq \ee
106 .Pq back-slash .
107 .
108 .
109 .Ss Text Decoration
110 Terms may be text-decorated using the
111 .Sq \ef
112 escape followed by an indicator: B (bold), I, (italic), R (Roman), or P
113 (revert to previous mode). A numerical representation 3, 2, or 1
114 (bold, italic, and Roman, respectively) may be used instead.
115 .
116 .
117 .Ss Whitespace
118 Unless specifically escaped, consecutive blocks of whitespace are pruned
119 from input. These are later re-added, if applicable, by a front-end
120 utility such as
121 .Xr mandoc 1 .
122 .
123 .
124 .Ss Dates
125 The
126 .Sx \&TH
127 macro is the only
128 .Nm
129 macro that requires a date. The form for this date is the ISO-8601
130 standard
131 .Cm YYYY-MM-DD .
132 .
133 .
134 .Ss Scaling Widths
135 Many macros support scaled widths for their arguments, such as
136 stipulating a two-inch paragraph indentation with the following:
137 .Bd -literal -offset indent
138 \&.HP 2i
139 .Ed
140 .
141 .Pp
142 The syntax for scaled widths is
143 .Sq Li [+-]?[0-9]*.[0-9]*[:unit:]? ,
144 where a decimal must be preceded or proceeded by at least one digit.
145 Negative numbers, while accepted, are truncated to zero. The following
146 scaling units are accepted:
147 .
148 .Pp
149 .Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact
150 .It c
151 centimetre
152 .It i
153 inch
154 .It P
155 pica (~1/6 inch)
156 .It p
157 point (~1/72 inch)
158 .It f
159 synonym for
160 .Sq u
161 .It v
162 default vertical span
163 .It m
164 width of rendered
165 .Sq m
166 .Pq em
167 character
168 .It n
169 width of rendered
170 .Sq n
171 .Pq en
172 character
173 .It u
174 default horizontal span
175 .It M
176 mini-em (~1/100 em)
177 .El
178 .Pp
179 Using anything other than
180 .Sq m ,
181 .Sq n ,
182 .Sq u ,
183 or
184 .Sq v
185 is necessarily non-portable across output media.
186 .
187 .Pp
188 If a scaling unit is not provided, the numerical value is interpreted
189 under the default rules of
190 .Sq v
191 for vertical spaces and
192 .Sq u
193 for horizontal ones.
194 .Em Note :
195 this differs from
196 .Xr mdoc 7 ,
197 which, if a unit is not provided, will instead interpret the string as
198 literal text.
199 .
200 .
201 .Sh MANUAL STRUCTURE
202 Each
203 .Nm
204 document must contain contains at least the
205 .Sx \&TH
206 macro describing the document's section and title. It may occur
207 anywhere in the document, although conventionally, it appears as the
208 first macro.
209 .
210 .Pp
211 Beyond
212 .Sx \&TH ,
213 at least one macro or text node must appear in the document. Documents
214 are generally structured as follows:
215 .Bd -literal -offset indent
216 \&.TH FOO 1 2009-10-10
217 \&.
218 \&.SH NAME
219 \efBfoo\efR \e(en a description goes here
220 \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 2 & 3 only.
221 \&.\e\*q .SH LIBRARY
222 \&.
223 \&.SH SYNOPSIS
224 \efBfoo\efR [\efB\e-options\efR] arguments...
225 \&.
226 \&.SH DESCRIPTION
227 The \efBfoo\efR utility processes files...
228 \&.
229 \&.\e\*q .SH IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
230 \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 1 & 8 only.
231 \&.\e\*q .SH EXIT STATUS
232 \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 2, 3, & 9 only.
233 \&.\e\*q .SH RETURN VALUES
234 \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 1, 6, 7, & 8 only.
235 \&.\e\*q .SH ENVIRONMENT
236 \&.\e\*q .SH FILES
237 \&.\e\*q .SH EXAMPLES
238 \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 1, 4, 6, 7, & 8 only.
239 \&.\e\*q .SH DIAGNOSTICS
240 \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 2, 3, & 9 only.
241 \&.\e\*q .SH ERRORS
242 \&.\e\*q .SH SEE ALSO
243 \&.\e\*q .BR foo ( 1 )
244 \&.\e\*q .SH STANDARDS
245 \&.\e\*q .SH HISTORY
246 \&.\e\*q .SH AUTHORS
247 \&.\e\*q .SH CAVEATS
248 \&.\e\*q .SH BUGS
249 \&.\e\*q .SH SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
250 .Ed
251 .Pp
252 The sections in a
253 .Nm
254 document are conventionally ordered as they appear above. Sections
255 should be composed as follows:
256 .Bl -ohang -offset indent
257 .It Em NAME
258 The name(s) and a short description of the documented material. The
259 syntax for this is generally as follows:
260 .Pp
261 .D1 \efBname\efR \e(en description
262 .It Em LIBRARY
263 The name of the library containing the documented material, which is
264 assumed to be a function in a section 2 or 3 manual. For functions in
265 the C library, this may be as follows:
266 .Pp
267 .D1 Standard C Library (libc, -lc)
268 .It Em SYNOPSIS
269 Documents the utility invocation syntax, function call syntax, or device
270 configuration.
271 .Pp
272 For the first, utilities (sections 1, 6, and 8), this is
273 generally structured as follows:
274 .Pp
275 .D1 \efBname\efR [-\efBab\efR] [-\efBc\efR\efIarg\efR] \efBpath\efR...
276 .Pp
277 For the second, function calls (sections 2, 3, 9):
278 .Pp
279 .D1 \&.B char *name(char *\efIarg\efR);
280 .Pp
281 And for the third, configurations (section 4):
282 .Pp
283 .D1 \&.B name* at cardbus ? function ?
284 .Pp
285 Manuals not in these sections generally don't need a
286 .Em SYNOPSIS .
287 .It Em DESCRIPTION
288 This expands upon the brief, one-line description in
289 .Em NAME .
290 It usually contains a break-down of the options (if documenting a
291 command).
292 .It Em IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
293 Implementation-specific notes should be kept here. This is useful when
294 implementing standard functions that may have side effects or notable
295 algorithmic implications.
296 .It Em EXIT STATUS
297 Command exit status for section 1, 6, and 8 manuals. This section is
298 the dual of
299 .Em RETURN VALUES ,
300 which is used for functions. Historically, this information was
301 described in
302 .Em DIAGNOSTICS ,
303 a practise that is now discouraged.
304 .
305 .It Em RETURN VALUES
306 This section is the dual of
307 .Em EXIT STATUS ,
308 which is used for commands. It documents the return values of functions
309 in sections 2, 3, and 9.
310 .
311 .It Em ENVIRONMENT
312 Documents any usages of environment variables, e.g.,
313 .Xr environ 7 .
314 .
315 .It Em FILES
316 Documents files used. It's helpful to document both the file and a
317 short description of how the file is used (created, modified, etc.).
318 .
319 .It Em EXAMPLES
320 Example usages. This often contains snippets of well-formed,
321 well-tested invocations. Make doubly sure that your examples work
322 properly!
323 .
324 .It Em DIAGNOSTICS
325 Documents error conditions. This is most useful in section 4 manuals.
326 Historically, this section was used in place of
327 .Em EXIT STATUS
328 for manuals in sections 1, 6, and 8; however, this practise is
329 discouraged.
330 .
331 .It Em ERRORS
332 Documents error handling in sections 2, 3, and 9.
333 .
334 .It Em SEE ALSO
335 References other manuals with related topics. This section should exist
336 for most manuals.
337 .Pp
338 .D1 \&.BR bar \&( 1 \&),
339 .Pp
340 Cross-references should conventionally be ordered
341 first by section, then alphabetically.
342 .
343 .It Em STANDARDS
344 References any standards implemented or used, such as
345 .Pp
346 .D1 IEEE Std 1003.2 (\e(lqPOSIX.2\e(rq)
347 .Pp
348 If not adhering to any standards, the
349 .Em HISTORY
350 section should be used.
351 .
352 .It Em HISTORY
353 The history of any manual without a
354 .Em STANDARDS
355 section should be described in this section.
356 .
357 .It Em AUTHORS
358 Credits to authors, if applicable, should appear in this section.
359 Authors should generally be noted by both name and an e-mail address.
360 .
361 .It Em CAVEATS
362 Explanations of common misuses and misunderstandings should be explained
363 in this section.
364 .
365 .It Em BUGS
366 Extant bugs should be described in this section.
367 .
368 .It Em SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
369 Documents any security precautions that operators should consider.
370 .
371 .El
372 .
373 .
374 .Sh MACRO SYNTAX
375 Macros are one to three three characters in length and begin with a
376 control character ,
377 .Sq \&. ,
378 at the beginning of the line. An arbitrary amount of whitespace may
379 sit between the control character and the macro name. Thus, the
380 following are equivalent:
381 .Bd -literal -offset indent
382 \&.PP
383 \&.\ \ \ PP
384 .Ed
385 .
386 .Pp
387 The
388 .Nm
389 macros are classified by scope: line scope or block scope. Line
390 macros are only scoped to the current line (and, in some situations,
391 the subsequent line). Block macros are scoped to the current line and
392 subsequent lines until closed by another block macro.
393 .
394 .
395 .Ss Line Macros
396 Line macros are generally scoped to the current line, with the body
397 consisting of zero or more arguments. If a macro is scoped to the next
398 line and the line arguments are empty, the next line is used instead,
399 else the general syntax is used. Thus:
400 .Bd -literal -offset indent
401 \&.I
402 foo
403 .Ed
404 .
405 .Pp
406 is equivalent to
407 .Sq \&.I foo .
408 If next-line macros are invoked consecutively, only the last is used; in
409 other words, if a next-line macro is preceded by a block macro, it is
410 ignored.
411 .Bd -literal -offset indent
412 \&.YO \(lBbody...\(rB
413 \(lBbody...\(rB
414 .Ed
415 .
416 .Pp
417 .Bl -column -compact -offset indent "MacroX" "ArgumentsX" "ScopeXXXXX"
418 .It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments Ta Em Scope
419 .It Sx \&B Ta n Ta next-line
420 .It Sx \&BI Ta n Ta current
421 .It Sx \&BR Ta n Ta current
422 .It Sx \&DT Ta 0 Ta current
423 .It Sx \&I Ta n Ta next-line
424 .It Sx \&IB Ta n Ta current
425 .It Sx \&IR Ta n Ta current
426 .It Sx \&PD Ta n Ta current
427 .It Sx \&R Ta n Ta next-line
428 .It Sx \&RB Ta n Ta current
429 .It Sx \&RI Ta n Ta current
430 .It Sx \&SB Ta n Ta next-line
431 .It Sx \&SM Ta n Ta next-line
432 .It Sx \&TH Ta >1, <6 Ta current
433 .It Sx \&UC Ta n Ta current
434 .It Sx \&br Ta 0 Ta current
435 .It Sx \&fi Ta 0 Ta current
436 .It Sx \&i Ta n Ta current
437 .It Sx \&na Ta 0 Ta current
438 .It Sx \&nf Ta 0 Ta current
439 .It Sx \&r Ta 0 Ta current
440 .It Sx \&sp Ta 1 Ta current
441 .El
442 .
443 .Pp
444 The
445 .Sx \&PD ,
446 .Sx \&RS ,
447 .Sx \&RE ,
448 .Sx \&UC ,
449 .Sx \&br ,
450 .Sx \&fi ,
451 .Sx \&i ,
452 .Sx \&na ,
453 .Sx \&nf ,
454 .Sx \&r ,
455 and
456 .Sx \&sp
457 macros should not be used. They're included for compatibility.
458 .
459 .
460 .Ss Block Macros
461 Block macros are comprised of a head and body. Like for in-line macros,
462 the head is scoped to the current line and, in one circumstance, the
463 next line; the body is scoped to subsequent lines and is closed out by a
464 subsequent block macro invocation.
465 .Bd -literal -offset indent
466 \&.YO \(lBhead...\(rB
467 \(lBhead...\(rB
468 \(lBbody...\(rB
469 .Ed
470 .
471 .Pp
472 The closure of body scope may be to the section, where a macro is closed
473 by
474 .Sx \&SH ;
475 sub-section, closed by a section or
476 .Sx \&SS ;
477 part, closed by a section, sub-section, or
478 .Sx \&RE ;
479 or paragraph, closed by a section, sub-section, part,
480 .Sx \&HP ,
481 .Sx \&IP ,
482 .Sx \&LP ,
483 .Sx \&P ,
484 .Sx \&PP ,
485 or
486 .Sx \&TP .
487 No closure refers to an explicit block closing macro.
488 .
489 .Pp
490 .Bl -column "MacroX" "ArgumentsX" "Head ScopeX" "sub-sectionX" -compact -offset indent
491 .It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments Ta Em Head Scope Ta Em Body Scope
492 .It Sx \&HP Ta <2 Ta current Ta paragraph
493 .It Sx \&IP Ta <3 Ta current Ta paragraph
494 .It Sx \&LP Ta 0 Ta current Ta paragraph
495 .It Sx \&P Ta 0 Ta current Ta paragraph
496 .It Sx \&PP Ta 0 Ta current Ta paragraph
497 .It Sx \&RE Ta 0 Ta current Ta none
498 .It Sx \&RS Ta 1 Ta current Ta part
499 .It Sx \&SH Ta >0 Ta next-line Ta section
500 .It Sx \&SS Ta >0 Ta next-line Ta sub-section
501 .It Sx \&TP Ta n Ta next-line Ta paragraph
502 .El
503 .
504 .Pp
505 If a block macro is next-line scoped, it may only be followed by in-line
506 macros (excluding
507 .Sx \&DT ,
508 .Sx \&PD ,
509 .Sx \&TH ,
510 .Sx \&UC ,
511 .Sx \&br ,
512 .Sx \&na ,
513 .Sx \&sp ,
514 .Sx \&nf ,
515 and
516 .Sx \&fi ) .
517 .
518 .
519 .Sh REFERENCE
520 This section is a canonical reference to all macros, arranged
521 alphabetically. For the scoping of individual macros, see
522 .Sx MACRO SYNTAX .
523 .
524 .
525 .Ss \&B
526 Text is rendered in bold face.
527 .Pp
528 See also
529 .Sx \&I ,
530 .Sx \&R ,
531 .Sx \&b ,
532 .Sx \&i ,
533 and
534 .Sx \&r .
535 .
536 .
537 .Ss \&BI
538 Text is rendered alternately in bold face and italic. Thus,
539 .Sq .BI this word and that
540 causes
541 .Sq this
542 and
543 .Sq and
544 to render in bold face, while
545 .Sq word
546 and
547 .Sq that
548 render in italics. Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
549 .Pp
550 Examples:
551 .Pp
552 .D1 \&.BI bold italic bold italic
553 .Pp
554 The output of this example will be emboldened
555 .Dq bold
556 and italicised
557 .Dq italic ,
558 with spaces stripped between arguments.
559 .Pp
560 See also
561 .Sx \&IB ,
562 .Sx \&BR ,
563 .Sx \&RB ,
564 .Sx \&RI ,
565 and
566 .Sx \&IR .
567 .
568 .
569 .Ss \&BR
570 Text is rendered alternately in bold face and roman (the default font).
571 Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
572 .Pp
573 See
574 .Sx \&BI
575 for an equivalent example.
576 .Pp
577 See also
578 .Sx \&BI ,
579 .Sx \&IB ,
580 .Sx \&RB ,
581 .Sx \&RI ,
582 and
583 .Sx \&IR .
584 .
585 .
586 .Ss \&DT
587 Has no effect. Included for compatibility.
588 .
589 .
590 .Ss \&HP
591 Begin a paragraph whose initial output line is left-justified, but
592 subsequent output lines are indented, with the following syntax:
593 .Bd -filled -offset indent
594 .Pf \. Sx \&HP
595 .Op Cm width
596 .Ed
597 .Pp
598 The
599 .Cm width
600 argument must conform to
601 .Sx Scaling Widths .
602 If specified, it's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if unspecified, the
603 saved or default width is used.
604 .Pp
605 See also
606 .Sx \&IP ,
607 .Sx \&LP ,
608 .Sx \&P ,
609 .Sx \&PP ,
610 and
611 .Sx \&TP .
612 .
613 .
614 .Ss \&I
615 Text is rendered in italics.
616 .Pp
617 See also
618 .Sx \&B ,
619 .Sx \&R ,
620 .Sx \&b ,
621 .Sx \&i ,
622 and
623 .Sx \&r .
624 .
625 .
626 .Ss \&IB
627 Text is rendered alternately in italics and bold face. Whitespace
628 between arguments is omitted in output.
629 .Pp
630 See
631 .Sx \&BI
632 for an equivalent example.
633 .Pp
634 See also
635 .Sx \&BI ,
636 .Sx \&BR ,
637 .Sx \&RB ,
638 .Sx \&RI ,
639 and
640 .Sx \&IR .
641 .
642 .
643 .Ss \&IP
644 Begin an indented paragraph with the following syntax:
645 .Bd -filled -offset indent
646 .Pf \. Sx \&IP
647 .Op Cm head Op Cm width
648 .Ed
649 .Pp
650 The
651 .Cm width
652 argument defines the width of the left margin and is defined by
653 .Sx Scaling Widths ,
654 It's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if unspecified, the saved or
655 default width is used.
656 .Pp
657 The
658 .Cm head
659 argument is used as a leading term, flushed to the left margin. This is
660 useful for bulleted paragraphs and so on.
661 .Pp
662 See also
663 .Sx \&HP ,
664 .Sx \&LP ,
665 .Sx \&P ,
666 .Sx \&PP ,
667 and
668 .Sx \&TP .
669 .
670 .
671 .Ss \&IR
672 Text is rendered alternately in italics and roman (the default font).
673 Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
674 .Pp
675 See
676 .Sx \&BI
677 for an equivalent example.
678 .Pp
679 See also
680 .Sx \&BI ,
681 .Sx \&IB ,
682 .Sx \&BR ,
683 .Sx \&RB ,
684 and
685 .Sx \&RI .
686 .
687 .
688 .Ss \&LP
689 Begin an undecorated paragraph. The scope of a paragraph is closed by a
690 subsequent paragraph, sub-section, section, or end of file. The saved
691 paragraph left-margin width is re-set to the default.
692 .Pp
693 See also
694 .Sx \&HP ,
695 .Sx \&IP ,
696 .Sx \&P ,
697 .Sx \&PP ,
698 and
699 .Sx \&TP .
700 .
701 .
702 .Ss \&P
703 Synonym for
704 .Sx \&LP .
705 .Pp
706 See also
707 .Sx \&HP ,
708 .Sx \&IP ,
709 .Sx \&LP ,
710 .Sx \&PP ,
711 and
712 .Sx \&TP .
713 .
714 .
715 .Ss \&PP
716 Synonym for
717 .Sx \&LP .
718 .Pp
719 See also
720 .Sx \&HP ,
721 .Sx \&IP ,
722 .Sx \&LP ,
723 .Sx \&P ,
724 and
725 .Sx \&TP .
726 .
727 .
728 .Ss \&R
729 Text is rendered in roman (the default font).
730 .Pp
731 See also
732 .Sx \&I ,
733 .Sx \&B ,
734 .Sx \&b ,
735 .Sx \&i ,
736 and
737 .Sx \&r .
738 .
739 .
740 .Ss \&RB
741 Text is rendered alternately in roman (the default font) and bold face.
742 Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
743 .Pp
744 See
745 .Sx \&BI
746 for an equivalent example.
747 .Pp
748 See also
749 .Sx \&BI ,
750 .Sx \&IB ,
751 .Sx \&BR ,
752 .Sx \&RI ,
753 and
754 .Sx \&IR .
755 .
756 .
757 .Ss \&RE
758 Explicitly close out the scope of a prior
759 .Sx \&RS .
760 .
761 .
762 .Ss \&RI
763 Text is rendered alternately in roman (the default font) and italics.
764 Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
765 .Pp
766 See
767 .Sx \&BI
768 for an equivalent example.
769 .Pp
770 See also
771 .Sx \&BI ,
772 .Sx \&IB ,
773 .Sx \&BR ,
774 .Sx \&RB ,
775 and
776 .Sx \&IR .
777 .
778 .
779 .Ss \&RS
780 Begin a part setting the left margin. The left margin controls the
781 offset, following an initial indentation, to un-indented text such as
782 that of
783 .Sx \&PP .
784 This has the following syntax:
785 .Bd -filled -offset indent
786 .Pf \. Sx \&Rs
787 .Op Cm width
788 .Ed
789 .Pp
790 The
791 .Cm width
792 argument must conform to
793 .Sx Scaling Widths .
794 If not specified, the saved or default width is used.
795 .
796 .
797 .Ss \&SB
798 Text is rendered in small size (one point smaller than the default font)
799 bold face.
800 .
801 .
802 .Ss \&SH
803 Begin a section. The scope of a section is only closed by another
804 section or the end of file. The paragraph left-margin width is re-set
805 to the default.
806 .
807 .
808 .Ss \&SM
809 Text is rendered in small size (one point smaller than the default
810 font).
811 .
812 .
813 .Ss \&SS
814 Begin a sub-section. The scope of a sub-section is closed by a
815 subsequent sub-section, section, or end of file. The paragraph
816 left-margin width is re-set to the default.
817 .
818 .
819 .Ss \&TH
820 Sets the title of the manual page with the following syntax:
821 .Bd -filled -offset indent
822 .Pf \. Sx \&TH
823 .Cm title section
824 .Op Cm date Op Cm source Op Cm volume
825 .Ed
826 .Pp
827 At least the upper-case document title
828 .Cm title
829 and numeric manual section
830 .Cm section
831 arguments must be provided. The
832 .Cm date
833 argument should be formatted as described in
834 .Sx Dates :
835 if it does not conform, the current date is used instead. The
836 .Cm source
837 string specifies the organisation providing the utility. The
838 .Cm volume
839 string replaces the default rendered volume, which is dictated by the
840 manual section.
841 .Pp
842 Examples:
843 .Pp
844 .D1 \&.TH CVS 5 "1992-02-12" GNU
845 .
846 .
847 .Ss \&TP
848 Begin a paragraph where the head, if exceeding the indentation width, is
849 followed by a newline; if not, the body follows on the same line after a
850 buffer to the indentation width. Subsequent output lines are indented.
851 The syntax is as follows:
852 .Bd -filled -offset indent
853 .Pf \. Sx \&TP
854 .Op Cm width
855 .Ed
856 .Pp
857 The
858 .Cm width
859 argument must conform to
860 .Sx Scaling Widths .
861 If specified, it's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if
862 unspecified, the saved or default width is used.
863 .Pp
864 See also
865 .Sx \&HP ,
866 .Sx \&IP ,
867 .Sx \&LP ,
868 .Sx \&P ,
869 and
870 .Sx \&PP .
871 .
872 .
873 .Ss \&PD
874 Has no effect. Included for compatibility.
875 .
876 .
877 .Ss \&UC
878 Has no effect. Included for compatibility.
879 .
880 .
881 .Ss \&br
882 Breaks the current line. Consecutive invocations have no further effect.
883 .Pp
884 See also
885 .Sx \&sp .
886 .
887 .
888 .Ss \&fi
889 End literal mode begun by
890 .Sx \&nf .
891 .
892 .
893 .Ss \&i
894 Italicise arguments. If no arguments are specified, all subsequent text
895 is italicised.
896 .Pp
897 See also
898 .Sx \&B ,
899 .Sx \&I ,
900 .Sx \&R .
901 .Sx \&b ,
902 and
903 .Sx \&r .
904 .
905 .
906 .Ss \&na
907 Don't align to the right margin.
908 .
909 .
910 .Ss \&nf
911 Begin literal mode: all subsequent free-form lines have their end of
912 line boundaries preserved. May be ended by
913 .Sx \&fi .
914 .
915 .
916 .Ss \&r
917 Fonts and styles (bold face, italics) reset to roman (default font).
918 .Pp
919 See also
920 .Sx \&B ,
921 .Sx \&I ,
922 .Sx \&R ,
923 .Sx \&b ,
924 and
925 .Sx \&i .
926 .
927 .
928 .Ss \&sp
929 Insert vertical spaces into output with the following syntax:
930 .Bd -filled -offset indent
931 .Pf \. Sx \&sp
932 .Op Cm height
933 .Ed
934 .Pp
935 Insert
936 .Cm height
937 spaces, which must conform to
938 .Sx Scaling Widths .
939 If 0, this is equivalent to the
940 .Sx \&br
941 macro. Defaults to 1, if unspecified.
942 .Pp
943 See also
944 .Sx \&br .
945 .
946 .
947 .Sh COMPATIBILITY
948 This section documents compatibility with other roff implementations, at
949 this time limited to
950 .Xr groff 1 .
951 .Bl -hyphen
952 .It
953 In quoted literals, groff allowed pair-wise double-quotes to produce a
954 standalone double-quote in formatted output. This idiosyncratic
955 behaviour is no longer applicable.
956 .It
957 The
958 .Sq sp
959 macro does not accept negative numbers.
960 .It
961 Blocks of whitespace are stripped from both macro and free-form text
962 lines (except when in literal mode), while groff would retain whitespace
963 in free-form text lines.
964 .El
965 .
966 .
967 .Sh SEE ALSO
968 .Xr mandoc 1 ,
969 .Xr mandoc_char 7
970 .
971 .
972 .Sh AUTHORS
973 The
974 .Nm
975 reference was written by
976 .An Kristaps Dzonsons Aq kristaps@kth.se .
977 .
978 .
979 .Sh CAVEATS
980 Do not use this language. Use
981 .Xr mdoc 7 ,
982 instead.
983 .